Overview

• A Cornell-led 2025 meta-analysis of nearly 1,000 studies finds no overall creativity benefit for left-handed individuals and notes slight right-hander advantages in divergent-thinking tests.
• About 10 to 10.6 percent of people write with their left hand, a trait influenced roughly 25 percent by genetics alongside factors such as birth weight and breastfeeding.
• Handedness aligns with lateralized motor control—left-handers rely on the right hemisphere for tasks—while otherwise showing minimal cognitive differences from right-handers.
• Historical practices of retraining left-handed children into right-handed writing persisted into the late 20th century and have been linked to concentration disorders and psychological distress.
• Tools, machinery and everyday layouts designed for right-handed users increase accident risk and friction for left-handers although they retain performance edges in interactive and combat sports.